El Camino Real bus plans scaled back

A bold idea to transform a 10-mile stretch of El Camino Real into a road friendlier to public transit, bicycles and pedestrians will be greatly scaled back after cities from Sunnyvale to Palo Alto failed to endorse a plan that would close one lane each way for auto traffic and reserve those lanes for express buses.

The Valley Transportation Authority's board of directors will meet Friday to discuss the next move for its Bus Rapid Transit program, with a vote expected in November. It will likely recommend that bus-only lanes running in the center median be limited to a 2.7-mile stretch from Lafayette Street to Lawrence Expressway in Santa Clara. That city and San Jose unanimously support building bus-only lanes on El Camino. Other cities along the El Camino corridor oppose it.

North of that stretch in Santa Clara, buses would share the far right lanes with vehicles. While they would get more green lights and improved bus stops, a bus trip would not be as fast or as reliable.

"From our perspective, either way is fine," VTA transit planner Kevin Connolly said. "I will tell you that dedicated lanes for buses only are better and why we recommend that.

"But we need to give the cities a choice. They did not reject Bus Rapid Transit, just the dedicated-lane approach."

The El Camino corridor is the most heavily ridden transit line in Santa Clara County, with more than 20,000 weekday riders. Ridership is expected to increase over the next two decades as job and population growth surge about 70 percent within a quarter mile of El Camino, according to projections by the Association of Bay Area Governments.

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But more people and more jobs also means more drivers wanting more lanes -- and that gives VTA board member Liz Kniss pause.

"I don't think it makes sense to pursue anything more now," said Kniss, of Palo Alto, also a Santa Clara County supervisor. "We can come back later and look at it again. Sometimes until you have a trial run, it's really tough to have good faith in these projections."

VTA General Manager Michael Burns said it is often difficult for the public to grasp what improvements may be needed 25 years from now.

"But we think if this is successful, the other cities may reconsider their positions," he said.

The El Camino project is the latest and perhaps most significant proposal to alter city streets in the Bay Area, where rules have long favored motorists. The push toward "road diets," as transportation planners call them, took off in 2008 when Caltrans endorsed the concept of "complete streets" for urban neighborhoods. That's planner-speak for making the entire street, from sidewalk to sidewalk, geared for safe access by pedestrians, bicyclists and bus riders.

The express bus expansion is linked to the BART extension to San Jose, which could open in four or five years. Without transit to get riders from BART to their destinations, BART ridership could suffer.

San Jose and Santa Clara leaders particularly like the VTA's forecast that 38,398 people a day would use express buses by 2030, compared with a projected 19,000 if no changes are made to the El Camino, Alum Rock and Stevens Creek routes.

It currently costs the VTA $4.77 to carry a bus passenger on El Camino Real, a figure that would fall to $2.58 per rider -- meaning a $2 ticket paid by a passenger would nearly cover the expense. That would mean a fare-box recovery rate of nearly 70 percent -- almost five times greater than the agency's overall fare-box return.

"The changes on El Camino give us a chance to really change the street," said Santa Clara planning director Kevin Riley, explaining his city's support for reserving two lanes for buses. "We're willing to be the model for this, and I think others will see the value of that over time."

Contact Gary Richards at 408-920-5335.

Construction will begin later this year along Alum Rock Avenue and Santa Clara Street from Eastridge to downtown San Jose. Buses will share lanes with traffic.

Construction could begin on El Camino Real in two years. Buses would have their own lanes through Santa Clara, then share lanes to Palo Alto.

Design work under way on Stevens Creek Boulevard from downtown San Jose to De Anza College. Buses would share lanes with traffic except around Valley Fair and Santana Row.

El Camino line: $118 million for 2.7 miles of lanes dedicated to express buses and auto traffic on rest of street. Service could begin in 2016.